Saint Patrick: Issues of Translation & His Enduring

SAINT PATRICK:
ISSUES OF TRANSLATION & HIS ENDURING PASTORAL MESSAGE

A dissertation submitted to the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies
Drew University in partial fulfillment of
The requirements for the degree,
Doctor of Letters

Christina Isabella McGrath
Drew University
Madison, New Jersey
May 2021

Abstract

Saint Patrick:
Issues of Translation and His Enduring Pastoral Message

Doctor of Letters Dissertation by
Christina Isabella McGrath
The Caspersen School of Graduate Studies

Drew University

May 2021

This dissertation attempts to discover the reason(s) for the worldwide interest in
Saint Patrick of Ireland by focusing on the numerous translations of his two writings, the

Confessio (The Confession of Saint Patrick) and the Epistola (The Letter to the Soldiers

of Coroticus). By analyzing seven specific twentieth century translations of the saint’s fifth century writings, the reader will discern subtle differences in each end product, leading to a unique message from Patrick. Working with the assertions that every translation is a political act of some kind and that the translator becomes part of the translation, specific passages from the saint’s writings are examined and discussed through the lens of translation theory along with survey responses from accessible translators. After delving into Patrician scholarship, the historical sources presenting Saint Patrick’s letters have been called into question, due to the personal agendas and biases of his seventh century biographers. Over the past 1500 years, both political and religious factions have usurped him for their own agendas. The end result of this exploration led to the discovery of a man who went to the end of his world to preach the Gospel, to convert the Irish to Christianity, and to share the love of his God with the place and people who once enslaved him. His personal struggles of faith and forgiveness make an intimate impression on the reader that has endured.

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Dedication

For Papa – on to my plumber’s license!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One – Introduction & Historical Foundations…………...………….....…………1 Chapter Two – Contextual Issues

o Issues of Patrick’s Latin…...……………………………......……………………33

o Issues of Medieval Rhetorical Writing……………………….....……………….41

o Issues of Translation……………………………………………..………………45

Chapter Three – Presentation of Modern Translators…………………...........………….53

Chapter Four – Analysis of the Confessio ……………………………… . ………………....….69

Chapter Five – Analysis of the Epistola……………………………………..………....102

Chapter Six – Original Creative Piece, “Patrick’s Sheep”…………………………..…128 Chapter Seven – Conclusions……………………………………………………..……145

Appendix 1 – Confessio, Latin Text………………………………………………...….158 Appendix 2 – Epistola, Latin Text……………………………………………………...169 Appendix 3 – Original E-Mail Correspondences…………………………………….…173

Works Cited………………………………………………………………………….…190 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………....197

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Acknowledgements & Gratitude

Dr. Sloane Drayson-Knigge – My unofficial advisor and awesome cheerleader. Dr. Jesse Mann – For challenging me through this process to dig deeper and to be firm in my convictions.

Dr. Bill Rogers – For spinning a good yarn, showing me that it’s all England’s fault, and

for pitching in at the end.

Dr. Liana Piehler – For helping me realize my writer’s vision. Mindy Rochman – My writer’s block remover and my MLA guru.

Mitch Ravitz – My tech wizard.

My AFG Family – Thank you for showing me that I don’t have to be afraid to try and to

keep putting one foot in front of the other. My Students – I know how you feel when you work on your research paper for my class.

I’ll have a little more sympathy as you go through the process.

Grace M. McGrath – For teaching me what it means to be passionate about something. Thomas S. McGrath – Thank you for the gift of the love of learning, it has served me

well. I wish you were here to see the final product in person, but I know that you’ve been

here through all of the process with me. My loving family – Rich, Heather Lynn, Heather, James, Elizabeth, Barbara, and Tom – love you

Maggie, Jesse, Baby, and Milo – my sweet dissertation pups, who kept me company, from research, to writing, to editing.

Maureen Roger – For everything said and unsaid.

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Preface

The inspiration for this project came from several places throughout my studies at
Drew University. My initial interest was in my first class, during the summer of 2012,

Isle of the Saints. I had several titles to read, two of which were Philip Freeman’s Saint

Patrick of Ireland (2004) and John Skinner’s The Confession of Saint Patrick (1998). I

was struck by the beauty of Skinner’s translation, which I read after Freeman. I was also

intrigued by the word choices that each translator had made. As a high school teacher of World Literature in which all my students read are translations, I was curious about

what impact those choices had on the meaning, both the author’s possible original intent as well as the reader’s interpretation.

My second ingredient was in another class, Imaging History in Fall 2013. I took the original research on Patrick and wrote an epic poem about him, using certain

phrases from those two translations, to incorporate the saint’s “original” thoughts. I

had a vision of a hybrid project, one that would combine research with creative writing.
Lastly, in one of the sections of the Confessio (Section [23]), Patrick talks about a

vision of letters from the Irish, asking him to come back to them. “I was utterly ‘pierced to my heart’s core,’ so that I could read no more” (Skinner 45). With that phrase, the Baroque sculpture “Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” (1652) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini flashed

through my mind. It was that moment of complete awareness of the Divine to which I was drawn.

These elements made me more curious about this man, who was so devoted to serving his God, that he was willing to go back to the land that had kidnapped and enslaved him, to bring Christianity and salvation to the end of the world. What does that

depth of faith and level of service to others look like? The poem “Patrick’s Sheep” is my

attempt at another type of translation of Patrick, as a creative expression. It is my interpretation of Patrick, the pastoral priest who wanted to save the Irish and who felt so deeply for them.

CIM
3/31/2021

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CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION & HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS

The impetus for this dissertation project was multi-faceted. The idea of word play, word choice, and the subtleties of the English language was initially fascinating, with

regards to two specific translations of Patrick’s writings (works by Philip Freeman¹and

John Skinner²). The politicization of Patrick in the religious and cultural identity of Ireland soon became intertwined in the quest to understand those aforementioned language discrepancies. And lastly, the idea of Patrick as the face of Ireland, or at least the most well-known of the island’s saints, brought about the question – Why him? What was it about this particular Christian missionary that has captured the attention of people for over one thousand years? It is unclear as to the exact reason(s) for the fame and

reputation of Patrick over the years. Patrick’s story has been mythologized and

appropriated (and/or misappropriated) for political, religious, and theological purposes over the years to where fact and fiction or when fiction became fact one found hard to

distinguish. One compelling sign of Patrick’s influence is the many and varied uses of

the translations of his writings over the past 1500 years. This is especially interesting considering that there are only two relatively brief letters attributed to the saint.
One essential reason for the focus on Patrick and the subsequent worldwide

attention on him is because Patrick’s writings have been translated and interpreted,

1

Freeman, Philip. St. Patrick of Ireland. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster Paperback, 2004.

2

Saint Patrick. The Confession of Saint Patrick. Trans. John Skinner. New York, New York: Image Books/Doubleday, 1998.

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in just the past two hundred years, more than a dozen times³in a purposeful manner in order to advance various, and often contradictory, religious, and political agendas. Given

the small body of Patrick’s writings, this makes for a particularly compelling subject for

study—why so many translations? Patrick is not recognized as a deep theological thinker or a profound observer of society during his life. What has drawn so many scholars and others to translate this man’s writing? This project makes the further claim that even though Patrick’s persona may have been crafted by others, it is an intimate connection between the saint and God that readers over the centuries have found in those writings, and not on a purely theological level, that has proven both powerful and lasting. For

these reasons, certain translations of the works attributed to Saint Patrick will be examined in this endeavor to demonstrate that the final products (the published

translations themselves) are affected by many factors including translators’ scholarly

opinions or personal biases (whether assumed or documented); historic, economic, or social events; and/or language evolution in which these subtleties often lead to

differences among translators as to Patrick’s meaning, his appeal, and his enduring

message (if any). While these translations have many similarities in subject matter and general word choices, it is the subtle differences that are of interest here.
The word bias usually has a negative connotation; however, one person’s

determination of bias might be just another person’s perspective. Every translator has a

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In addition to the seven specific translations chosen to be presented in this study (the reasons for which are elaborated in Chapter Three), there were other notable scholars whose translations were not used. See the works of Binchy, Cahill, Conneely, DeBreffney, DePaor, Hanson, Hennessy, Hood, J. Gwynn,

MacNeil, Morris, O’Loughlin, O’Rahilly, Powell, Stokes, or Stone. All of whom can be found in the

Bibliography of this project.

3perspective and an agenda. The act of translation is a political act, whether to sell books to the general public/college students, or to claim Patrick for Catholic/Protestants, Irish/English, or to present one’s own interpretation in response to another. Therefore,

bias is used throughout this paper, based on this author’s interpretation of potential

motives by both translators and historians. And yet, in the final analysis, this research effort contends that it is the deep personal connection that readers have with Patrick through his writings rather than the efforts of the translators which has the profoundest

impact on Patrick’s continuing relevance in modern society.

The crux of this discussion brings the reader to Patrick’s own fifth century

writings, The Confession of Saint Patrick (Confessio) and the Letter to the Soldiers of

Coroticus (Epistola). The difficulty with these documents is two-fold: the original

biographies which introduced Patrick’s writings to the world were edited and censored,

so the audience is reading translations of transcribed copies of his writings. Nothing happens in a vacuum and those translators were subjected to outside forces, some of which will be discussed in this document. Their eventual products create an image of the saint. These interdisciplinary queries are intertwined, and each factor influences the others. All of these issues and questions cannot possibly be answered in this project; partly because irrefutable corroborating sources for all parts of this essay’s thesis are difficult to find, as well as, the simple time constraints. And yet, these questions were ones that started the path of the undertaking.

Chapter One and Chapter Two will discuss topics that are central to this

dissertation: an overview of Patrician scholarship, issues surrounding Patrick’s Latinity, elements of rhetorical writing, and translation theory, as each relates to Patrick’s writings.

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The remaining chapters of this treatise will deal specifically with the two written works attributed to Saint Patrick. Chapter Three will present short biographies of the translators used for this project, as well as the survey process for those translators whose works will be analyzed in Chapters Four and Five. It will show some of the thought processes from a few of the translators, which reinforce the focus of this dissertation. Chapters Four and Five will present specifically chosen passages from seven different translations of

Patrick’s writings. The passages and word choices will be analyzed along with a discussion of how those choices shape the reader’s understanding of Patrick and his

message. Chapter Six will present an original creative composition as an interpretation of Patrick and his message. Chapter Seven will conclude with what image of Saint Patrick and his message is presented, based on those translations. HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS – PATRICIAN SCHOLARSHIP
Saint Patrick of Ireland is certainly the most well-known Irish saint. And yet, what is known about this man? So much of what people know about Patrick is influenced by the myths surrounding him and not from his own words. People assume that he was Irish. He was actually a Romano-British citizen, living on the edge of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, who was captured by Irish raiders, brought to Ireland, and lived as a slave for six years. People are familiar with the myth that he chased the snakes out of Ireland. As far as it can be determined, due to the loss of a land bridge between Ireland and Europe after the Ice Age and its unique bowl-shape topography, there actually were no snakes inhabiting the island.⁴The snakes are most likely an

⁴In his 2004 book, St. Patrick of Ireland, Freeman refers to a third century Roman author, Solinus who

mentioned that “Irish dirt [could be used] as an insecticide and…that there are no snakes in Ireland” (21).

5allusion to the Celtic pagan traditions that were driven out in favor of Christianity.

People envision him wearing a green bishop’s habit, with a miter (tall pointed cone-shape

hat) and carrying a crosier (tall curved staff). Those garments were from the eleventh and twelfth century, more than 500 years after Patrick lived, so he most likely dressed more like a common fifth century monk.

Patrick’s reach goes beyond the borders of Ireland. People worldwide celebrate

his feast day on March 17^th, the presumed date of his death. That feast day is celebrated quite differently in the United States of America versus the tradition in Ireland. In America, it is a day of Irish arts and culture, frivolity, and liquor – a day when everyone wants to be Irish. In Ireland, it was historically a holy day, although over the past several decades it has come to resemble a modified American type celebration with much less

religiosity. Another example of Patrick’s impact would be the number of churches

around the globe named after Patrick, both Catholic and Protestant, that are too numerous

to count.⁵Lastly, the famous New York City Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, the largest

parade in the America every year, is only one of countless public ceremonies held in honor of this saint around the world.⁶This wide-reaching acknowledgment of Patrick is a unique phenomenon.

The study of Ireland’s patron saint is complex. Patrician scholarship must rely on

primary documents that are over 1500 years old. Those documents are sparse on details

⁵Although efforts have been made to count them, according to www.wearinofthegreen.com , there are 60 such named churches in Ireland alone and 77 total in the United States, England, New Zealand, Canada, Barbados, and Taiwan; but no claim is made that this data is complete or comprehensive. ⁶The online site www.wearinofthegreen.com lists 44 major St. Patrick’s Day celebrations across the United

States but only one of New Jersey’s 26 parades is included on that list, so the national total probably totals

several hundred.

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regarding Saint Patrick’s life, education, and missionary work. Amidst all of the

research, there are several hurdles that one must attempt to leap over. As with much research into the past these include scantiness of corroborating primary sources, accuracy of those primary sources, possible biases, whether accidental or deliberate from both the writers and translators of those primary documents and then later historians, political motivations of both Church and State, and also development of languages. Those

influences cannot be ignored while reading Patrick’s writings.

Primary and secondary sources on Saint Patrick are limited: his own writings, entries about him found in the Irish Annals,⁷the biographies (both ancient and modern) about him, and the translations of his writings. Twentieth century historian Ludwig Bieler (1906-1981) agrees with fellow historian T. F. O’Rahilly (1883-1953) that “the [Irish] Annals are..[the] most reliable evidence of Irish ecclesiastical history during the

fifth and sixth centuries” (Bieler, The Life and Legend of St. Patrick: Problems of

Modern Scholarship 41). Yet, there are conflicting details in even the basic facts about Saint Patrick. Some sources propose his life dates as 387-461 A.D., others 387-493 A.D., and others simply agree on the fifth century to avoid the controversy. Since fifth century documents are not easily procured, historians must cross-reference existing events and

other accessible documents to pinpoint Patrick’s dates, ranging from entries in the Irish

Annals, to references to anti-Pelagius⁸themes found in Patrick’s writings, to the wording

⁷The Irish Annals were a collection of multiple writings that chronicled early Irish history written in the seventeenth century, the most famous of which is the Annals of the Four Masters. Complete electronic text available on-line at CELT, Corpus of Electronic Text, https://celt.ucc.ie//. ⁸Pelagius – Fourth century monk who believed in the goodness of human nature and the ability to achieve

salvation through human action, in contrast to Augustine’s claim that only God’s grace could offer

salvation.

7from specific type of Bible that historians believed Patrick used. Historian R. P. C. Hanson (1916-1988) affixes his own unique dates of Saint Patrick’s life, such as his death

to 461A.D., which has been disputed by other historians who put Saint Patrick’s death

around 493A.D.⁹To further complicate this issue, the two initial biographies, from which all others build upon, were recorded in the seventh century, some two hundred years after Saint Patrick lived and preached in Ireland. “How much there is in these earliest biographies that reaches back in tradition to the actual facts and how much

represents a later legendary growth is a problem not easily resolved” (MacNeill, St.

Patrick 70).

That the world knows this man simply as Patrick, based on the Latin version of his name, Magonus Succatus Patricius, is an initial bias. It is a Roman prejudice that claims this man for the Church in Rome and not for the land of his birth, Britain, or even the land of his missionary work, Ireland. It was not uncommon at that time for families to give two names to their children, one honoring the Roman Empire and one for the location and culture of their birthplace. Some sources believe that his birth name was actually Maewyn Succat, with some spelling variations. Bieler’s The Life and Legend of

St. Patrick: Problems of Modern Scholarship identifies his names as: “Sucat was his

name in boyhood, Cothrige in slavery, Magonus when he studied under Germanus,

Patricius during his Irish mission” (Bieler 50). Hanson’s Saint Patrick: His Origins and

Career identifies his name both as Sochet, as found in Muírchú and Magonus, Succetus,

Patricius, as found in Tírechán (Hanson, Saint Patrick: His Origins and Career 78,79).

⁹For an extensive discussion regarding the process of determining Patrick’s dates, see Chapter Six (Saint

Patrick’s Dates) in Hanson’s Saint Patrick: His Origins and Career.

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These distinctions are indicative of the difficulties in studying Patrick. By what name should he be called? That depends on how one is looking at the man. This again brings up the issues of biases that runs throughout this project. In the end, the fact that the world knows this man as Patrick, the name of his pastoral work in Ireland is most telling in that this is the name of his genuine self, a missionary for God.
The myths surrounding Saint Patrick are many: he drove the snakes from Ireland, he explained the Trinity with the simple shamrock, and he defeated the druids. He is associated with several amazing, almost miraculous events. These fantastical stories